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"What's the trouble, little one?" I inquired of a little girl that I had just found running from rock to rock in the desert. At first I thought her an Indian who was into trouble, but then saw her blond hair and blue eyes and realized with a start that she must be from a German family. Her facial features proclaimed this
Her lips were silent. She looked at me with big eyes and simply stared. She showed fear when she looked over her shoulder, and I knew she was running away from something. It wasn't hard to figure out whom.
With hand motions I managed to ask if she wanted to ride in back of me, and she nodded yes. When we had ridden for a little while I got the urge to know for sure what the trouble was. I pulled up onto the top of a hill and stopped in the shade of a large rock. The little girl tugged at my coat in askance. Again in sign I told her I wanted to see her pursuer, and she nodded yes, but she didn't look too sure about it. I wondered if she had just forgotten English and spoke only an Indian dialect or possibly Spanish.
"Tu hablas Espanol?" (Do you speak Spanish?) A blank stare answered my question. I was sure she understood some English. Maybe she didn't talk at all after her experiences. I had heard of such cases.
In the distance a single trail of dust appeared. Only one person, then. The little one tugged violently, wanting to get far away from the trailer. To ease her fears I rode on.
After a couple of hours I reined in the horse, and the girl and I dismounted.
"What's your name?" I asked. She smiled but said nothing.
"Then I shall call you Abby. That is the name of a little girl I played with when I was your age and you remind me of her." Another smile came to her face.
"Now, what I would like to do is find out who is following you and turn him back. See?"
(Pointing to my badge.) "I'm a Ranger and this is my job." She looked a little confused by the long speech, but she did put up her hand and feel the badge.
Between talk and sign language I explained that I wanted to surprise her pursuer and get rid of him. She finally nodded okay. We mounted up and rode directly past the end of a rock spur; then simply circled back and waited under cover. As the rider approached I saw that he was a fat while man, wearing clothes that a scarecrow would scoff at and boots run down so badly that it was hard to tell if they ever had heels. Two buttons had popped off his shirt and a dirty roll of fat protruded. A sombrero topped his head that would not keep out sunlight, let alone rain. All in all, he was the most despicable character I had ever seen.
At twenty-five yards I stepped out into the trail with gun leveled.
"Hold it. Arizona Ranger."
"What the hell do you want? I'm minding my own business," said the uncouth looking
man.
"It looks like you are tracking us? How come?"
"You've got my little girl, and I came to get her back." He had the sound of someone that had been wronged.
"She's your little girl? She doesn't act it." She was clinging to my back and tugging for us to get away.
"She sure is. I traded for her, and I want her back. She's my property."
"I don't believe so, pig boy. She's not going to work on any hog farm for you."
"What are you talking about? I haven't got any hog farm."
"You should. You look like one." Before he could decide whether or not to take offense I laid down the law. At least as best I knew it. "Mr. Lincoln delivered an Emancipation Proclamation, and since that date it is illegal to buy people in the United States. Period. I ought to arrest you and take you in."
"Hey! I traded for her fair and square and she belongs to me, and just because you got a tin badge doesn't change it."
I had been inching closer to him as we spoke. When he wised up his eyes widened in alarm. "Hold it, now. I just want the girl, and I'll get outta here."
"Are you deaf and stupid? I said you can't have her back. I ought to shoot you and be done with it, but I don't do things that way." He had a big canteen tied tight to his saddle horn, and when the angle was right I put a slug through it. His horse acted up but he managed to get it under control.
"What did you do that for?"
"So that you'll spend your time hunting water on the way back instead of following me. You look like a man that knows how to find the water holes, and you can work your way to Chino Creek, and you'll make out.
"Now listen closely, if I see you up my way I'll think you're hunting me, and I'll shoot you. If I come down your way you'd better hide, for the same reason. Got it?"
In reply he unleashed a string of profanity and swung his horse around. He reminded me of an animal that flashes his teeth and then runs away. I wouldn't be hearing from him again. At least I hoped I wouldn't.
Abby was beaming with relief. She stuttered a little and then said, "Good."
That one word gave me hope. She had probably been taken from her parents years ago and had forgotten how to speak English. Maybe it would come back to her. Now my problem was—what to do with her. I'd heard enough stories about orphanages that I knew I was not going to leave her in one. I would have to report her found and see if anybody was searching for her. If not maybe the Smarts would like the little girl's company.
We took our time, and when we got to Prescott I took Abby to a widowed woman that ran a rooming house and gave her the money for new clothes and a bath. I got cleaned up myself as well, and then we walked down to headquarters where I introduced Abby and explained the situation. She looked awe struck at the array of guns and cells. I suppose a jail is a fascinating place to a youngster.
The captain listened to the story and then was lost in thought for a minute. "A family named Hendricks went out alone and was massacred about four years ago. People remembered seeing them with a little girl, but she was not found at the scene. I'll bet this is the same girl."
"No wonder she doesn't talk much. She didn't know many words when she was taken, and then she's been through an ordeal. She's got a fine spirit to get through and still be smiling."
The captain smiled at the girl and she smiled back. "She is a spunky little thing, isn't she? Now, the question is, what are we going to do with her?"
"How about next of kin? Any relatives?"
"We never found any. We never heard from any relatives. As far as I know she hasn't got any."
"I hate to put her in an orphanage." I told him about the nice couple I had met and how they might give her a good home.
"That sounds like a fine idea. Why don't you take her on up there and see what they say."
"Thank you, Captain, I know the Smarts will take her right into their family."
As I turned to walk out, the captain started to say something and then changed his mind. "It can wait until you get back. Good luck."
The Smarts recognized me as we rode up and came rushing to greet us.
"Terrance, who did you bring to see us?" cried Mary Smart. She was all ready gushing over Abby like a mother cat over a kitten.
"This is Abby, and she needs a home." I told of finding her in the wilderness and the sheriff's presumption of who she was. "I hate to put her in a state home. I was hoping you folks might raise her."
"We'd love to," said the Smarts in unison.
"She might even have a little sister before long. It's early, but I think it's going to happen."
"Why, that's great," I said. "The next time I come through you'll probably have a passel of young-uns."
"Don't wait that long. Terrance. We like your company."
"You ought to find yourself a woman and settle on yonder hill," said David. "Then we could be neighbors."
I was touched to think that anyone would want me as a neighbor. "I appreciate the thought. Maybe some day I can do that."
"Can't you stay a little while?" asked Mary. "While Abby gets settled in?"
I ended up staying three days, and while I was there Abby made tremendous progress. While certainly not a chatterbox, the little girl was talking quite a bit when I left.
Being a Ranger was always rewarding. Sometimes, I thought as I rode away, sometimes it's downright satisfying.
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